Dana White argues his intervention can make slap fighting a safer sport in terms of fighters’ health
It’s safe to say that Dana White’s new salp fighting venture, Power Slap, hasn’t received unanimous support from the martial arts community. Many fighters, journalists, and medical professionals have shunned the sport because of its unsafe nature.
Slap fighting is a sport in which two opponents face each other on either side of a podium and take turns slapping each other in the face until one of them is unable to continue.
Many believe that the sport’s all-offensive, non-defense nature could result in permanent head injuries for the athletes.
However, the UFC president claims his intervention could make batting a much safer sport.
In an interview on My mother’s basement with Robbie FoxWhite argued that he has the best health and safety record in the fight business, noting that there have been no fighter deaths in the UFC since he took the reins of the promotion:
“From 2001, when we bought the company, through 2023, zero deaths and zero serious injuries in the UFC. In boxing from 2001 to 2023 [there have been] 34 dead. Nobody has a better safety and health record than I do and we will do the same for that [Power Slap League].”
White also assured that power slap athletes are subjected to strict medical protocols before, during and after each event:
“When we bring these guys in, we give them a full medical test from top to bottom before, during and after the fight. If you do that and actually spend that money … you can control the health and safety aspects of it better.”
Check out Dana White’s comments below:
Dana White suggests power slap is safer than boxing
Dana White believes boxing poses a greater risk to a fighter’s health than punching. During the same interview, the MMA promoter argued that slap fighters, on average, suffer fewer penalties per match than boxers in a boxing match.
White argued that a boxer can take four to six hundred punches in a bout, while a puncher only receives three or fewer slaps during an event:
“In boxing these guys are like, well, in boxing you can defend yourself. OK! In boxing, you can defend yourself, but you’re still getting four to six hundred punches a fight, and that doesn’t include sparing the shots you’ve taken in preparing for that fight.
Dana White added:
These boys [Power Slap fighters] take three or fewer salps per event and they go through the exact same medical tests.
Power Slap: Road to the Title airs every Wednesday on TBS. The next episode of the show will air on March 1st. The show is currently rated 4.5/10 on IMDB.